There are certainly advantages to coming to the market, according to the wholesalers. “Restaurant owners will come and hand-pick their produce,” says Brian Griffin, vice president at Bama Tomato Company. “They can get a tomato that really tastes like a fresh tomato,” he notes, adding, “and there are no delivery costs.”
“At the market, you can look at everything before you buy; you can shop around on price and quality,” Tucker points out. “It’s all centralized here.”
Griffin said that faith-based groups also organize a free food-share for lower-income community members. The wholesalers and retailers contribute produce, and the groups divvy it up into food baskets that are distributed locally.
Unlike some states, Alabama does not have a major produce terminal market. The distribution of produce involves most major chains sourcing direct and supplementing with in-season local produce. Wholesalers sell to grocery, foodservice, and fruit and vegetable stands, and farm-to-retail outfits sell to restaurants and local consumers. However, what Alabama lacks in a terminal market, it makes up for in a plentitude of farmers’ markets.
A MARKET HERE,
A MARKET THERE
Don Wambles, director of the Alabama Farmers Market Authority and the Alabama Farm-to-School program, has been instrumental in the proliferation of farmers’ markets across the state.
“In 1999, we only had 17 farmers’ markets [statewide], but people wanted to buy fresh produce directly from the farmer,” Wambles explained. “We seized the opportunity, combined the four words ‘Buy Fresh, Buy Local,’ and created a campaign and a system for starting new markets—and it worked. We now have more than 1,000 small farms making money and thousands of consumers buying fresh produce all summer long, happy to connect a face with the food they eat.”
Wambles’ method is to go into a community that needs a farmers’ market, create a steering committee, give them a template for how to run a market (including best practices), and let the community outline the rules and run the market. One important guideline to selling produce is maintaining a ratio of no more than three to seven craft vendors to produce vendors.
Building on a successful farmers’ market expansion, Wambles’ current vision is to grow Alabama’s nascent farm-to-school program in similar fashion and bring more fresh produce into cafeterias.
LOCAL AND SEASONAL PRODUCE RULES
Buying local is huge in Alabama. Even the chains source large volumes of local produce during the season. And because of its geographic location, Alabama is privy to a longer-than-usual growing and harvesting season. “You have a summer crop in every state,” explains Terry Stone, president and buyer at Stone Tomato Company, Inc. “However, in North Carolina, you only have a month and a half; in Tennessee, two months. But in Alabama, we have three-and-a-half months or more.”
